The Southern India Mills Association (SIMA) has urged Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani to intervene and empower the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) to implement governance and discipline to cut on the alleged misconduct adopted by cotton ginners.
As per the Annual Cotton Contamination Survey that is conducted by the International Textile Manufacturers’ Federation (ITMF), it is being observed that the poor ginning practices adopted by the ginners have put India’s cotton varieties in the list of top 10 highly contaminated and seed coat (trash) content across the world.
SIMA marked out that the cotton ginners were mixing cotton waste into fresh cotton, which was resulting in cotton production with a significant amount of trash content. The ginners also allegedly added water to increase the lint weight.
P Nataraj, Chairman, SIMA cited that the cotton waste price trend prevailed in the last few years showed that the waste price significantly increased from the beginning of the cotton season as the ginners obtain waste cotton for adulteration. “Such practices exponentially increase the short fibre content that affects the value realization, productivity and quality of the yarn,” Nataraj added.
Furthermore, the chairman appreciated the efforts taken by the Union Textile Minister and CMD, CCI for bringing quality norms apart from the regular quality parameters like staple length and micronaire value.
To make the country’s cotton quality high-end and aid the farmers to achieve a sustainable growth, SIMA has requested the Government to authorise CCI to host periodical inspection of the factories where ginning takes place and take necessary actions. The association also mentioned that MoT must also work on the recommendation by the Cotton Advisory Board under TMC-II proposal to accelerate the fund allocation to create HVI cotton testing facilities in all the major cotton centres.
Additionally, the Indian textile trade association has also proposed that the Textiles Committee must conduct periodical audits and recognize three to five star rated ginning factories by posting the details on CCI’s website.
SIMA also asked the Government to authorize CCI to introduce a 16-digit RFID code for individual bale quality parameters on par with USDA that practices the same since 1991; CCI could take the help of Textiles Committee, Textile Research Associations and CIRCOT for RFID certification, which can result in significant enhancement of value addition, raise the income and profit for shareholders.
